North Korea’s ‘Hotel of Doom’ Is Finally Set to Open Next Year

The 105-story Ryugyong Hotel, known as the “hotel of doom,” is finally set to open its doors sometime next year after beginning construction more than 25 years ago.

The pyramid-shaped structure is the world’s tallest hotel and is now the main attraction along the Pyongyang skyline in North Korea. It plans to open about 150 rooms on the top floors to guests of the hotel, and later hopes to bring in retail shops, restaurants and offices to the lower portion.

Originally slated to finish construction in 1989 (it began in 1987), the mega-skyscraper was deemed the “hotel of doom” after construction on the project was abandoned in 1992 due to a North Korean economic collapse. The uncompleted structure became an eyesore that some have described as an embarrassing mockery of the country’s leadership.

Then in 2008, the Egyptian company Orascom Telecom reportedly invested $180 million to bring the building up to standards. However, the hotel’s original plans to offer 3,000 rooms and three revolving restaurants have been scaled back immensely.

International hotel management firm Kempinski has now taken on operations of the Ryugyong Hotel and hopes to have it partially opened next year.